Vets memorial coming together

Published 8:00 pm, Thursday, July 29, 2010

BAD AXE — Those passing by the County Building this week may have noticed some new activity on the Huron County Veterans Memorial project, as workers began assembling the monument on Wednesday.

Bad Axe Granite and Marble representatives worked throughout the day to finish assembling the 13,600-pound, semi-lunar granite monument, which is 14.5 feet long, 7 feet tall and 2 feet wide, angled. The monument has the names of 281 Huron County veterans who were killed in any war in history.

The monument is just one component of the veterans memorial project, which will transform the area into a tribute incorporating the existing monument on the west lawn into the design for the new memorial area, which includes a new winding sidewalk that will be lit and begin at the sidewalk parallel to East Huron Avenue and end at the back portion of the west lawn, near where the American flag currently stands.

Included in the winding sidewalk will be an area with a fountain, a separate area with the existing monument, then a circle that includes two benches and the new veterans monument, said Ric Beaver, of the Bad Axe, Port Austin and Kinde Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post #116. Throughout the area, there will be new landscaping and lighting that will tie the different areas together.

In addition to replacing the current American flag and the flag’s base, the project also will add two other flags, one representing the State of Michigan and the other for Prisoners of War. Those two flags will flank the new American flag.

The memorial project has been in the works since before Sharon McLeod, the former Huron County Veterans’ Affairs direct, passed away Aug. 7, 2008.

Beaver, eventually picked up where McLeod left off, along with the aid of Tom Stahl, who also is with the VFW Post #116.

Memorial organizers have spent more than a year seeking donations for the project, which is estimated to cost about $45,000.

To contribute, individuals and/or organizations can either send donations or purchase bricks that will be part of the walkway and have the name of a service man or woman engraved on them for $25. Names on the bricks do not have to be the names of individuals who have been killed in action — it can be anyone who has served in the U.S. Armed Forces, Beaver said.

Bricks can be purchased from the Huron County Veterans Affairs Office, and those who would like to send a donation for the project may do so through a check made out to the Huron County Veterans Memorial Wall, in an envelope addressed to Steve Young, Huron County Veterans Service Officer, Huron County Building, 250 E. Huron Ave. Room 101E, Bad Axe, MI 48413.